Snow
by Porpoise
Summary: It's not every day that it begins to snow in Autumn.


**Author's Note: **Since Chase never gave a clear explanation of why he hates snow, besides the fact it's cold, I came up with one for him. I swear, I started crying while I was writing this. Particularly closer to the end, of course.

No pairing.

**Warnings: **Something. But if I told you that something, it'd ruin the entire story. What fun is that? It's nothing inappropiate, or anything.

* * *

There was a _click_ as the inn's door shut into its place. As I changed my gaze to up in the sky from the original position it was at the door handle, I sighed. My breath immediatly evaporated into a warm puff of air. A few white dots fell on my black shirt, creating a sharp contrast.

It was snowing.

Damn, did I hate it.

But still, I stood there, looking into the sky, and then at a calendar hanging outside of the inn, protected from the weather by a thin sheet of plastic. There, on that piece of paper, I counted exactly _twenty-three_ x's on the calendar. There was a little badly-drawn picture of a something (I couldn't tell what it was, to be honest) on the twenty-fourth day. I would've normally smiled at the bad drawing, but I didn't pay much more attention to it. Because my eyes trailed up to the month first.

Autumn.

It was _Autumn_.

And it was _snowing_.

The last time it snowed in Autumn here was a while ago.

On this very _exact _day.

_Autumn twenty-fourth._

Which was the exact day when-

"Chase!" The high-pitched screech I could recognize in an instant pierced my thoughts and caused me to jump. Maya ran up to me and wrapped her arms tightly-_ really tightly_- around me. I felt some air escape my lungs. "Do you know what today is?" She asked is a sickly sweet tone, which made me cringe a little.

I didn't know what she was talking about, so I thought for a moment. _Why the hell is she hugging me?_ Was the only thought that came to me. Figuring that she had no idea what today meant to me, due to the sole fact that I haven't told anyone, I shrugged. For a moment, she looked like she was about to cry.

"B-but-!! How could you have-!" Maya immediatly let go of me, fury building in her eyes. Of course, I just continued to stare at her blankly, trying to figure what she could possibly expected me to know. I smirked to myself, amazed by her slightly immature reaction as she stepped in front of me and stomped her foot. _Ooh, _I thought to myself,_ I'm _so_ scared._

"You're such an ignorant, self-absorbed jerk!" Maya put emphasis on the last word. "It's my birthday, you idiot! I hate you!" Her birthday? How did she expect me to know?

I couldn't help but laugh, through the midst of this. She told me that she hates me exactly seventeen times within this year. Maybe I should've wished her a happy birthday at this time, but it slipped my mind.

I dismissed her insults and walked around her. "If you need me, I'll be around Maple Lake." The childish girl didn't seem to understand that I no longer wanted to talk to her, so she shouted to make up for the distance in between us. "But I'll be a little busy for the next hour or so, so try to come back past then. If you need me, that is."

"You're so... so... augh! I can't believe I used to even _like_ you! I hate you, Chase!"

Hello, number eighteen.

--

_One, two... three..._

I couldn't remember if the number was three, or if it was four. I haven't came to this place in the district since I moved back to this island, and I hardly came before I moved. Which only made me feel like an even worse person, so even if I wanted to come, I wouldn't. Today was different. Because it was snowing.

But then I remembered.

It was four, after all.

There was a certain stillness in the air that made me feel uneasy, even though there was a small wind and it was snowing. The black barred gate had a tip at the top of it, and I puting my arms across them to rest my head on. When I was a child, I learned that although those points looked sharp, they weren't sharp at all.

I looked at the contents of the small enclosed area. It was eerie, almost. I fumbled with the latch to get into the gate. It took me a moment to realize that I was trembling, and I was positive it wasn't from being cold.

Slowly, I counted, with my pointer finger, exactly four from the left. I stepped in front of number four and sat down on my knees, ignoring the stinging coldness from the snow.

It's been a while since I've come into this cemetery.

"I'm... uh- really sorry I didn't come earlier," My voice shook and it got hard to see as I said those words. I thought it was warm cloud fogged my vision a little, but I was wrong. "I just want to you to know that I _do_ care, but it would just be..." Racking my mind for the right words, I turned up empty. The way the frost-bitten particles danced about seemed to be mocking me. "Too hard."

I sat there for a few minutes, or maybe more, with my eyes closed and both of my fists clenched on either knee. I was at loss for words. I didn't know what else to say, so I opened my eyes. Snow began to accumulate over the head stone, and I wiped it off with my hands. I didn't notice that they turned numb, or a very light shade of purple.

"Mom... I-" A light wind began to blow, but the rest of the area around remained still. "You have no idea how much I've missed you." I laughed, but no sound came out. A few spaces were made in the forming snow on the ground, but at the time, I didn't know what they were from. I didn't realize that I was crying.

"R-remember... remember that time in the Winter a while ago? When we made our first snowman?" I smiled as I remembered it, too.

_"Mommy! Mommy!" I ran up to you, smiling and giggling as any child would. It was Winter, and I absolutely loved playing in the snow. The mittens I was wearing- the ones you made me; the ones that were blue with the red stripe- were a little bit too big and they kept falling_ _off my hands. You'd always laugh tenderly each time and put them back on, warning me that you'd punish me if they came off again. But, you never would. "'Wanna make a snowman with me?"_

_I could tell, even at my young age, that you really didn't want to. But, you did, just to see me smile. And the finishing outcome was the most pathetic-looking snowman I'd ever seen. The head was mishapen and too big for the middle, which made it lop-sided. It didn't help much that the bottom was a little bit smaller than the middle, so it looked like it was about to collapse at any second._

_But it was the best snowman I've ever made._

_You made a promise to me that we'd make another one as soon as that one melted._

_But you couldn't keep that promise..._

_Because you were gone before it was._

"I... I-" I tried to blink the forming tears away, but it didn't help. "I hope you're doing well, Mom, I really do. And..." The uneasiness in the air was lifted, for some reason. "...about that promise you told me to keep." This time, I laughed softly and shook my head at how naïve I was as a child. "I'm still working on it. But, I assure you, I'll find my special someone soon." I grinned once more. "This... this was nice. I'll come back soon, Mom, I promise."

The snow that continued to fall, I no longer hated it. In fact, it made me a little happier. Maybe I still am a little naïve. Maybe I still long to be a child, because my childhood was cut short by unfortunate circumstances. Those thoughts made me think deeply. Perhaps, those thoughts were right.

Carefully, I slowly stood up and made my way out of the gate, latching it shut, but this time, not for good.


End file.
